


Cold Cuddles

by necroneol



Series: Pathfinder and his Partners [4]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:15:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27977937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/necroneol/pseuds/necroneol
Summary: Ryder, Vetra, and Jaal visit the icy abandoned planet of H-019 and end up stranded. Cuddling ensues. For survival purposes, of course.
Relationships: Jaal Ama Darav/Male Ryder | Scott, Jaal Ama Darav/Vetra Nyx, Vetra Nyx/Male Ryder | Scott
Series: Pathfinder and his Partners [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2043751
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

As the Tempest slowed and steadied its descent onto the surface of icy H-019, Ryder couldn’t help but groan. Another frozen planet. Great. He couldn’t wait to shiver nonstop for three days straight.

At least H-019 wasn’t cold enough to threaten him with hypothermia like Voeld...in most regions, supposedly. Just cold enough to make him miserable.

They had braved the Scourge to reach a planet that was so remote, so forgotten, that it didn’t even have a name proper anymore, just a letter and some numbers, all because of a tip from an Angaran at Kadara Port that there was Kett stuffs just waiting to be collected by anyone willing to unbury it from all of the snow and wreckage. Where villages once flourished long, long ago, there was nothing but ruined framework now. Whoever--whatever--had lived here before was long gone, likely wiped out by the Kett. Or so they’d been told.

The villages, or what was left of them, were plain to see. The Scourge, too; they had had to fly through it to reach the damn planet. But whether these people went extinct directly by the hands of the Kett, or simply died off because of the Scourge’s interference, it was hard to tell. To come to any conclusion, they would have to break out the snow shovels.

There were three villages on H-019 that weren’t completely buried, and it was going to be a team effort to survey them. This was a shaky tip, but a tip nonetheless, and Ryder was thorough. He needed to make sure he looked into everything he could. If it had any Kett involvement at all, he owed it to everyone affected by their terror to give it some attention. Still, the effort was best divided.

Peebee and Drack would be exploring together, Liam and Cora, and Ryder, Vetra and Jaal. Each team came in on their own shuttle with supplies and food enough for one short day cycle and were told to keep in contact and report back to their shuttles by tomorrow morning for extraction. While the teams explored the uninhabited ruins, the Tempest and the remaining crew would scan the icy waters. A (relatively) thorough examination of an entire planet in two days. Efficiency at its peak.

They expected no trouble--scans of the planet from afar showed little to no life forms--but everyone brought their guns, just in case. Shuttles were loaded, and they were off.

“Why couldn’t it have been a tropical planet,” Ryder muttered as he lowered the shuttle into park, “Something warm. Hell, even a desert. I’d take dehydration over chattering teeth.”

“You dislike the cold that much?” Jaal said from the back seat. Vetra sighed.

“Not everyone has evolved cold tolerance like you, Jaal,” She added, “Turians can’t handle it well either.”

“Well,” Jaal turned his head to look out the window, and Ryder pressed a button up front. Their doors slid open with a hiss, and everyone stepped out. Jaal pointed ahead, to a run down building with three out of four walls intact, and a half of a roof left. “At least there is shelter. This is the best preserved of all. We could put our things here.”

“Alright.” Ryder turned and grabbed a small crate and slung his gun over his shoulder. “While we put our stuff up, let’s check in on everyone else.”

“Good idea.” Vetra grabbed a crate of her own and Jaal followed suit. As they carried their things into the abandoned building, Ryder worked the comms.

“Peebee, Drack. How’s it going?”

_ “...bad....little fucking--o signs of life…” _

Vetra whipped her head around. “‘Bad?’ ‘Signs of life?’”

Ryder grimaced. “H-Hold on. The connection is bad. We might not have understood what she said.” He set his crate down, and leaned against the wall. “Peebee? Repeat that?”   
_  
_ _ “...said it’s….cold as sh--fire--reach Liam and--” _

“See? It’s fine...probably.” Ryder crouched down now, drawing in on himself. “Hey, Liam, Cora, come in.”

No response. Static, like it was trying to go through, but nothing intelligible. Jaal groaned in unease.

“It is likely the snow is disrupting our communications. Radio on Voeld can be difficult at times.”

Ryder glanced between his companions, who were standing over him, both looking concerned and unsure. His Pathfinder nature kicked in, and he immediately tried to smooth things out. “Hey, look,” He stood with a grunt, “We’ve been without comms before. No big deal. We all have shuttles and supplies, and the Tempest is flying overhead. The planets dead and empty. We’ll be  _ okay _ .” As long as he didn’t mention the fact that he couldn’t hear SAM right now, either.

“Alright,” Vetra didn’t sound so sure, but she agreed all the same. “Let’s just get to searching. I want this trip to be worth something.”

Jaal nodded. “Agreed.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Aaand nothing.” Ryder kicked a pile of snow and cursed.

From a little ways away, Vetra said, “Same here. Some relics from the past inhabitants, but nothing Kett related.”

“The people here, I’m not sure they were very...advanced. I don’t think the Kett would have even cared enough to do anything to them, seeing as how they seem to have some sort of intelligence complex.” Ryder sighed and put his hands on his hips. He stared down at the trampled snow. “Although, I guess it’s hard to advance your society when a huge storm of deadly energy shows up and fucking annihilates you.”

Vetra came to join him, putting her hands on her hips, too, and glaring at the snow. “True. Where’s Jaal?”

Ryder raised his head. No sign of his bright colors anywhere. He must have wandered past the village ruins to widen his search. Smart--and stupid. Now Ryder was immediately worried.

“Jaal?” Vetra’s voice echoed off of the crumbled walls around them, but only the faint whistle of cold wind responded. OK, now Ryder was panicked.

He tried comms, buzzing Jaal and asking him where the hell he was, but just like when they tried before, it was static. Ryder paced the clearing. Vetra put a hand on his shoulder to stop him, but he brushed her off and instead started towards the edge of the village. WIthout a word, Vetra split off in the opposite direction.

Ryder trekked through the ice and snow, called into each ruined building, kept spamming the comms. Eventually, as the village became a blur on the horizon behind him, he saw that familiar bright blue. His Rofjinn, stark against the white ground.

Ryder ran over as fast as he could without slipping and breaking his ass. He buzzed Vetra as he did, telling her that he found him, and sending her his location. He wasn’t even sure she could receive his messages, but it didn’t matter right now.   
  
“Jaal!”

Jaal turned at last, and his eyes were wide. He put a finger to his mouth.  _ Shh. _

But Ryder didn’t give a shit. The hidden part of him that was slowly and irrevocably falling in love with Jaal (something Ryder refused to admit, out of fear--no, more like certainty--that Jaal did not and never would feel the same) was  _ pissed off. _

“Why the hell did you run off like that?” Ryder snapped, “We’ve been looking for you Jaal, I--”

“ _ Ryder. _ ”

Jaal’s tone startled the Pathfinder. He stopped and frowned. Slowly, he lowered himself into a crouch beside the Angaran man. “What?” He whispered.

“The ice.” He nodded in front of them. “Scan it.”

He did. And nearly shit his pants.

There was something underneath them. Something big.

“It started moving as I approached it--and I could only detect it with my scanner after it started moving.”

“That’s...scans should be able to detect anything, even if its still.”

Jaal nodded, gravely, “Perhaps, it hibernates, in a way. So still and slow breathing that it is not registered as a living thing.”   
  
“Fuck…” Ryder hissed between his teeth. “We need to get away from it, but...I’m guessing you’re crouched here and not answering anyone for a reason?”   
  
The Angaran put his hands on his knees and scowled. “It must feel vibrations through the ice. When I move, it follows. I was afraid to lead it back to the village.”

“Let’s move slowly, then. Really, really slowly.” Ryder slowly stood, taking Jaal with him. Keeping a hand on his elbow, he guided them back to the village ruins, one step at a time. Eventually, as they stopped providing substantial vibrations for the creature to detect, it went back into its hibernation, and just like before, scans could read its presence no longer.

“That’s kind of amazing,” Ryder whispered as they approached the buildings, “We’ve never seen anything like that before. I mean, creatures that use stealth and cloaks, yeah, but never anything that can slow its body’s processes down so much so to the point that it can’t be registered on scanners.”

“Amazing, yes,” Jaal said quietly, “And very terrifying.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> um cw for terrible nipple jokes they're bad

“Jaal, Ryder!” Vetra hurried over as soon as she could see them, and put her hands on each of their shoulders. “I got a little bit of your transmission, but your location wouldn’t come through. Jaal--”   
  
Jaal raised a hand, stopping her before she could blow up. “Where was I, you ask?”

Vetra glared. “I guess Ryder gave you this lecture already.”

“Yeah, well, Jaal found something insane.” Ryder put a hand on Vetra’s and squeezed her gently. “Come on, let’s sit down and start a fire, or something. We can talk about it then.”   
  
Unfortunately, it was a brittle planet, weirdly dry and windy, despite all the water and ice. They had to use their fire kits from the shuttle, hunkering down in the building with all of their things and doing the best they could to find some flammable material and some way to contain it. They ended up with a fire pit made out of scrap pieces of houses and pieces of broken furniture for fuel. It was small, but it was warmth nonetheless. The darker it got, the colder it got. They had their thin travel blankets, with insulated linings, but even they could only do so much. Tonight was going to be rough.

“That’s…”

“Amazing?” Ryder muttered. “Yeah. We got some scans of the thing, so we’ll take a better look at them on the Tempest.”

Vetra hummed in agreement. They were all huddled around the pit, separate from one another, all drawn in on themselves. Even Jaal was shivering now that he was still.

They all opened up their boxes of things. Ryder and Vetra took out their small travel meals and Jaal his home-made nutrient paste. They ate in mostly silence, as the cold made them all too unpleasant to feel like talking. By the time they were finished, night time had begun. 

Ryder tried the comms again, but this time, he couldn’t even hear from Peebee and Drack. At least they would be extracted tomorrow. He couldn’t wait to get back to the warm Tempest, make something hot to drink, cuddle up in his blankets…

Ryder groaned, and Jaal and Vetra looked at him, curiously. “I hate sleeping in my suit.” He grumbled, pouting inside his helmet. “It’s like...sleeping in a clunky metal suit. Because that’s exactly what it is.”

Vetra laughed. “Well, you could take it off.”

Ryder rolled his eyes. “Okay, let me get down to my underwear in negative degrees.” He put a hand to his chest and grimaced. “That doesn’t sound good, even as a joke. I think my nipples would freeze and fall off.”   
  
Vetra snorted. “Ew, Ryder.”

The Pathfinder smirked. “ _ Clink, clink.  _ That’s the sound of my nipple-sicles hitting the ground after they fall off, Vetra.”

Jaal put a hand to his head. “Well,” he muttered as he closed his eyes, “You do not nurse babies. Losing them would not impact you too badly.”

“Yeah, but I would look silly as hell without nipples.”

“Would you?” Jaal opened one eye, glancing at Ryder from across the low fire. “I think you look silly with them.”

Vetra burst out laughing, shaking her head and dropping it into her hands, as Ryder turned red. “Wh--okay, when have you ever seen my nipples, first of all, and second of all, what’s that supposed to mean? Do  _ you  _ not have nipples?”

Jaal opened his mouth to reply, but Ryder cut him off. “You know what? I don’t need to know. Let’s get off this topic. I don’t want to be thinking about everybody’s nipples...or lack thereof.”

Jaal shrugged and lowered his head. They fell back into silence for a little while, until the sound of Jaal’s snoring startled Vetra and Ryder.

“How can he sleep like this?” Vetra hissed from across the pit.

“I don’t know but I’m jealous.” Ryder sighed dramatically and put his blanket up over his head, hiding himself. “I wonder if he’s...hot. I-I mean, like, gives off heat.”

Vetra glanced over at the Angaran. “Dunno…” She looked back to Ryder, watching him shiver. Poor thing. “You know,” she whispered, “I may not be soft skinned like Jaal, but _ I  _ give off a little bit of warmth. Why don’t you…” She trailed off, but opened her arms. An invitation to join her inside of her own blanket cocoon.

And Ryder was too damn cold to care about any implications. Or the fact that his heart was beating a million miles an hour all of the sudden. It was almost like...he was hopelessly in love with Vetra, too. Ah, the struggles of a bisexual man. Too many good choices all the time.

He scrambled around the fire pit and glued himself to her side in an instant. She closed her blanket around him and sighed as she laid her head to the side. Ryder’s hands were curled between her chest and his, and his face was hidden under the blanket. His helmet was in the way for sure, and he realized this right away.

He drew back just long enough to take it off before nestling back into Vetra. Vetra let her chin rest on the top of his head, and they closed their eyes.

But it was still. Too. Cold.

And Jaal’s snoring was hard to ignore. He could still hear it over the sound of his own chattering teeth.

“Oh, fuck it.” Ryder sat up, and Vetra opened her arms, assuming he was leaving. But all he did was say Jaal’s name, loud enough to wake the poor sleeping Angaran, who startled with a snort.

“What? What is it?” Jaal grumbled, looking wildly between the two of them. It took him a second to register that they were cuddling, but once he did, he was shocked. Ryder, who got too embarrassed to look directly into someones eyes for longer than one second, and Vetra, who rarely did anything more than a hand shake... _ cuddling _ ?

Not that Jaal minded. This was something he could get behind.

Ryder looked at Vetra, who looked back without a word. “Can Jaal get in on this?” Vetra nodded and her mandibles jittered. Embarrassment. Or maybe just...nervousness.

Ryder smiled and opened his arms. “C’mere, Jaal. Penguin time.”

Jaal blinked. “What?”

“Penguins. They live in the cold and huddle for warmth. They--just come over here.”

Jaal complied and scooted closer. He nestled himself into the arms of Vetra and Ryder, who wrapped their blankets around him in response. In a cluster, they all moved back just enough to let Vetra, who was basically the backbone of this cuddle pile, lean against the wall for support.

Ryder had one arm around Jaal’s shoulders, one hand curled under Vetra’s chest plate. Vetra had one arm around the both of them, and Jaal did the same. Their faces were close, close enough that Ryder could appreciate the color in each of their eyes: Jaals, icy blue, with a soft lavender towards the middle, and Vetra’s, a warm golden color, the color of honey, rich and deep.To Ryder, his own pale grey eyes seemed plain in comparison, but little did he know, Vetra and Jaal both were counting the flecks of pale green in them.


End file.
